By Scott Taylor | @Taylor_Sports
It isn’t often that you see 5-foot, 3-inch hitters at the girls varsity volleyball level.
That experiment has seemed to work though for Plainfield South.
Senior Sophie Berta, a four-year setter, was moved to a part-time hitter role in addition to her setting duties at a recent tournament and the team responded well.
“We’ve been switching some things up at tournaments and seeing what works with our team and at the last tournament coach had me play all the way around and we won,” Berta said. “It worked well with the team, so we did it again tonight. I love hitting. I have hit occasionally, but it is good because it keeps my energy up.”
“She came to summer camp and asked if she could try hitting,” South coach Amanda O’Boyle said. “I said, ‘sure, why not’? She started hitting and I was like, ‘OK’. Last weekend at a tournament my assistant said we should give her a try, so we did and she started hitting balls left and right. She has been on varsity for four years and hasn’t hit once.”
Despite her height, Berta has quickly developed into one of the team’s top hitters.
“I’m the smallest on the team, so sometimes I get a little underestimated,” Berta said. “But, I work hard and try to work well with my team with what I’ve got. It’s a huge compliment to me (to be made a hitter). I try to get up there as tall as I can.”
The Cougars hope the switch helps keep the momentum going through conference season.
“I hope this is a big turning point for us,” O’Boyle said. “We’ve been trying different lineups and tweaking this. I lost nine girls from last year, so are trying to fill the gaps. Eight of those girls were hitters, so we’re trying to find hitters. Hitting is more strategic for us and we are trying to find the angles and the advantage. Defense is huge for us this year because we don’t have big hitters.”
The move appeared to pay off in the conference opener against Romeoville, a match South won 27-25, 25-20.
“Definitely communication was the key,” Berta said. “We’ve had some troubles in the past with that but we really came together as a team tonight and worked well together. It was good.”
It is that teamwork that the Cougars are looking for moving forward as well.
“We want to keep working as a team,” Berta said. “We have a key word this year called unity, where we are trying to stay together as one this season.”
“We have a team goal, which is unity this year,” O’Boyle said. “We try to play together and come together as a team. We want to be the first team to five, the first team to 10 and on.”
A big factor for the Cougars will also be their defense.
“Defense is going to be huge for us this year,” O’Boyle said. “I have three outstanding defensive specialists and liberos. We just want to take things one day at a time.”
This year’s squad features a solid blend of sophomores, juniors and seniors and the team has come together well.
“We have a lot of sophomores who got pulled up,” Berta said. “They bring a lot of skill to the team and are a huge aspect to the team.”